Catholic sect goes on the rampage in Burundi, leaving six dead and scores injured

Zebiya Ngendakumana

FOLLOWERS of a mad woman, who claims to have visions of a suspiciously white Virgin Mary on the 12th of each month, took up clubs and stones when Burundi police tried to prevent them gathering on Tuesday on the hilltop where 30-year-old Zebiya Ngendakumana sees the apparition.

The authorities were worried her sect could threaten public order. It was formed more than a year ago, and has since has developed a following across the country and in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kayanza Governor Athanase Mbonabuca said hundreds of sect members, some “armed with clubs and stones”, resisted police attempts to prevent them from meeting on the hilltop.

All the dead and most of the injured are believed to be followers of Ngendakumana, with four policemen seriously wounded.

The sect has had a tense relationship with Burundi’s government since its formation, says Florentine Kwizera of the BBC’s Great Lakes Service.

Last year, police destroyed a sanctuary of the sect in Kayanza – its stronghold – and its followers retaliated by breaking up a Sunday service at a local Catholic church, she said.

Most Burundians are Catholic but the official church has distanced itself from the sect.

The sect has also urged its followers to boycott the government’s community service programme.
It is not clear why it is opposed to the programme, which sees residents of towns and cities engage in activities such as cleaning streets and refurbishing schools every Saturday.

Hat tip: Leo Igwe, who will be in London later this month to give a talk on ‘Breaking the taboo of atheism in black communities’. Leo will also be a special guest at the National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year event. The talk is being hosted by The London Black Atheists group.

28 Responses to “Catholic sect goes on the rampage in Burundi, leaving six dead and scores injured”

And the catlickers and the islames are different exactly HOW!?!?!?!
The only reason that the 2 groups behave in Europe and USA is because they have been continually bitch-slapped by society, government, and the common laws. Everywhere the religions have some form of control you have this type of activity.
I find it sad that 85% of Americans want to have that type of thing in the USA.
Americans never study real history that shows how awful the xtians were in the 1000 thru 1600’s. They think(?) they are better then the islames in the mid-east. But get them into a theocratic situation and they will act exactly the same.
But then I’m a schizophrenic-paranoid asshole , so what do I know.
schizophrenic-paranoid is someone paranoid enough for 2 people.
asshole is another common name for atheist.

Off topic, maybe on topic. To hear the gushing sycophancy about a new dope, by an indoctrinated excuse for a journalist, on radio 5 live has made me more than angry. I’m feeling physically sick.
Fuck you BBC. Never ever claim to be the voice of truth and objectivity. You’ve lost all your cred and you’re backing a loser!!

The new jerk is a jesuit, here is part of Ignatius Loyola’s 13th rule for the jesuit society he set up: ” If [the Church] shall have defined anything to be black which to our eyes appears to be white, we ought in like manner to pronounce it to be black.”

He’s 76 years old, for God’s sake, and looked like a rabbit caught in the car headlights. I may be wrong, but I don’t think anyone will be shaking in their shoes tonight! BBC2 cleared the decks for coverage of this, and, as Groover said, what commentary I heard was sycophantic, obsequious drivel in the extreme.

Further to barriejohn’s post, it looks like the RCC have elected another hardline eejit to lead them. This from Wikipedia about Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now His Holiness Pope Francis I:

He has affirmed church teaching on homosexuality, though he teaches the importance of respecting individuals who are homosexual. He strongly opposed legislation introduced in 2010 by the Argentine Government to allow same-sex marriage, calling it a “real and dire anthropological throwback”. In a letter to the monasteries of Buenos Aires, he wrote: “Let’s not be naive, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.” He has also insisted that adoption by homosexuals is a form of discrimination against children. This position received a rebuke from Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who said the church’s tone was reminiscent of “medieval times and the Inquisition”.

I watched, briefly, some of the BBC grovelling. Simpering “reporters” smarming at the expense of the license payers. One choice comment from an interviewee was, “We musn’t forget that the Holy Spirit has been at work here.” So the HS needs four votes, some from the best paedo protectors in the business, to get a result. We are going to get a lot of this.

@Matt Westwood – I share that concern. It’s possible the sect started the fighting, the report isn’t clear, but what business did the police have turning up to intimidate them out of their meeting in the first place? Since when is praying together a crime that warrants a surge of officers to rush in and stop it? You’d think they had done something truly awful, like lie down in a park…

(Americans never study real history that shows how awful the xtians were in the 1000 thru 1600?s.)
…Had a fellow worker, right wing republican and somewhat religious ask me, “Is China a communist country?”
I couldn’t believe it as he is a man in his early 50’s.